We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Salenna Green a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Salenna, thanks for joining us today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?
The journey to starting my business required a lot of personal and professional growth. I entered the field right out of college at 21 years old and in my 12+ years in the professional field I have held roles such as a nonprofit program manager, program director, and interim director, social service specialist, entrepreneur and business owner. These experiences have coincided with my personal healing. During this time I noticed that while healing on my own was working, healing in community was richer and deeper in ways that I had not imagined. This realization was a tipping point in the decision to move forward in starting my own business. Market research confirmed for me what I experienced. There were few spaces or businesses that centered (or even seemed to consider) the needs of Black queer people like myself. I created my business around folks like me, who bear multiple marginalized identities to have space for our healing and growth. I think of my business as a part of a living movement that responds and adapts to the needs of the community it serves.
My approach to healing is very non formal. Events held by SGSPC are community based and vulnerable. While sharing is always optional, participants are challenged with concepts like self love and relationship healing as they pertain to every other aspect of life. I firmly believe that healing must be holistic, sustainable and accessible. After generations of facing antiblack racism, the Black community as well as other communities of color need access to holistic healing services from people who understand and can hold space for their generational traumas, pains and healing. I know that the healing work that needs to be done in the world will need to be community work and I seek to use my business and my lane to promote wellness in my community and others through self love and relationship healing. My vision is to hold events centering healing, joy, and expansion of knowledge as well as sell wares and fares that support the journey to overall wellness.
Salenna, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I am the 11th of 12 children in a single parent household. My mother and father were separated most of my life, well before their parents eventual divorce when I was 17. My family overcame a parent with addiction, homelessness and other systemic barriers when I was growing up. I always had an interest in what motivates human behavior and eventually got my Bachelors degree in Community Psychology. My university studies and my professional career have given me experience in creating holistic community programming that is restorative, relevant and accessible to the communities who need it most. I love being in space with people and healing with them. My business exists because of my personal healing journey and a call to share what I have learned with a larger audience. I heal along with my participants. I use the knowledge I have gathered from my own experience and research, informed by the knowledge from the elders in my community and ancestors to promote community building through innovative and inclusive programming. Especially for those that identify as Black and/or queer. The work I do is pro-decolonization, pro-Black, pro-quuer, environmentally conscious and pro-disability justice. I believe that none of us are free until all of us are free. SGSPC mission is to create a truly safe healing space; centering our most vulnerable community members and encouraging them to thrive through self love. SGSPC offers:
Awareness: The Hot Girl’s Healing podcast is a platform for sharing stories, insights, and expert advice on mental health, self-love, and wellness in conversation with artists, entrepreneurs and business owners. .
Retail Items: Curated products promote self-care and personal growth. Including prompted journals, activity books, calendars, books and more.
Community Events: Engaging gatherings that strengthen community bonds and provide support networks.
Workshops: Educational sessions focused on mental health, personal development, and community resilience.
Mental Health Resources: Accessible tools and support to address mental health needs within our community. I believe that healing is best when done in community and my offerings are my contribution to that belief.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
A lesson I had to unlearn is that I cannot be everything to everyone. I am nonbinary, yet I have been socialized throughout my childhood as a Black girl and woman. Black girls and women are often conditioned to look after everyone else, to be there, to show up, and to make things happen, wherever they may be. We are expected to utilize our energy for others, and if we do something for ourselves, it can be interpreted as selflessness, resulting in retaliation and contempt. Internalizing this indoctrination led me to become an adult who spread themselves too thin, wanting to be there for everyone, neglecting myself. I became resentful of those who I believed didn’t value my efforts, but I continued to give my services. I felt unnoticed, unheard, and disregarded in some of the relationships I had held onto the longest. I wasn’t satisfied with where I was in my personal and professional life. I made judgments that did not fit with my long-term goals, I spent too much time and energy developing initiatives and enterprises that forced me to overburden myself, and I expended energy working on teams with no recognition or encouragement. I realized that being fatigued and overextended was not sustainable. This prompted me to unlearn and relearn where to focus my efforts. I diverted the energy I was delivering to one side.I began focusing my emphasis on myself rather than on one sided relationships. During this time, I noticed a significant decline in the number of my connections while simultaneously increasing the quality. While I unlearned the beliefs and behaviors that led me into the draining relationships, I stayed open to new interactions, and before long, I was happily reflecting on the incredible community and village that I have established around myself and am privileged to be a part of. In business, relearning this lesson has given me the ability to be more focused on techniques and decision making. I understand what possibilities to seek, how to manage work and life, and what I should actually prioritize for my own overall wellness.
Have you ever had to pivot?
Pivoting is a powerful tool in life and business. I have pivoted many times and will countless more as I live my life and build my brand and business. The start of my business was a pivot. I worked with youth and families for my entire professional career before starting my business. In my job just before I started my business, I created holistic healing programming for youth for a number of years. Due to the holistic nature of the programming, I created a healing curriculum for families and communities as well during this time. I found that community healing can be deeper, more lasting and powerful than a solo path. Once I realized the power of community healing it became a new focus for me. Even the individual curriculum I created was formed with full communities in mind, honoring the inherent connections between us all. This pivot also led me to another pivot from the nonprofit to for profit sector. When I left the nonprofit sector and started my own business, my exploration of community healing continued. My work promotes self love and relationship healing in my participants, listeners and customers. My events and podcast episodes highlight the power of effective communication, boundaries and other tools for thriving relationships and communities. This pivot was not a change in vision, but in approach. Through my SPC I am not bound to the same laws as an LLC and am able to prioritize my social cause over profits and maintain partnerships with nonprofits without being bound to all the rules and bureaucracy of the nonprofit industry. This pivot brought about Salenna Green SPC as it exists today: A healing and wellness business that leads with lived experience, Indigenous practices and evidence based outcomes. I found my lane in self love and I am now happily carving it out.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hotgirlshealingpodcast/?locale=de&hl=am-et
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SalennaG/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/salenna-green-543b62132
- Twitter: https://x.com/salennag
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@thehotgirlshealingpodcast?si=rRihV6EQLsNmfbI1
- Other: BuzzSprout: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2084721
